RUSSIA & UKRAINE – Johnson’s Russia List table of contents :: JRL 2016-168 :: Thursday, 8 September 2016

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Johnson’s Russia List :: JRL 2016-#168
Thursday, 8 September 2016
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1. Moscow Times: Fyodor Lukyanov, Big 20 to Big Game: Power Politics Are Returning, Which Suits Russia.
2. www.rt.com: US spy planes intercepted near Russian border had transponders off – Russian MoD.
3. Interfax: Military-industrial complex capacity should not be used to produce pans, needs to target demands of healthcare, energy sectors – Putin.
4. Russia Direct: Oleg Egorov, Russia’s polling center, neutralized ahead of Duma elections. Now that the Levada Center has been classified as a “foreign agent,” its work will become much more difficult. The first real test for the Levada Center comes with the upcoming Duma elections.
5. BBC Monitoring: Russian pollster denies receiving foreign grants.
6. Izvestia: Russian opposition seen devoid of ideas in Duma campaign. (Aleksey Mukhin)
7. New York Times: Oleg Kashin, How Do You Get to Be a Governor in Vladimir Putin’s Russia?
8. Russia Beyond the Headlines: BP chief executive: We have no plans to quit the Russian market. On the sidelines of the 2016 Eastern Economic Forum RBTH sat down with Robert Dudley, the BP chief executive, to discuss sanctions and Russia’s ambitious energy projects.
9. Intellinews.com: EU, US strengthen Russia sanctions as Kremlin growls.
10. Paul Goble: Economic Crisis Finally Hitting Moscow and St. Petersburg, Survey Shows.
11. Russia Direct: Ivan Tsvetkov, Was the G20 Summit in China really a success of Russian diplomacy? Vladimir Putin made some important progress at the recent G20 Summit in Hangzhou, but there are three reasons why Russia’s participation may not have been as successful as some think.
12. www.rt.com: Danielle Ryan, Check mate? Russia continues to stack up military & diplomatic wins in Middle East.
13. RFE/RL: Brian Whitmore, What Putin Didn’t Get In Hangzhou.
14. www.rt.com: Russia-US deal on Syrian reconciliation ‘not yet finalized,’ talks to continue – Kremlin.
15. http://thesaker.is: Aram Mirzaei, The latest development in northern Syria.
16. http://theduran.com: Alexander Mercouris, Saudi Arabia and Russia close to freezing oil production. Joint Russian – Saudi statement on oil production and prices suggests despite vague language movement towards a temporary oil production freeze, though impact on oil prices likely to be small.
17. Russia Beyond the Headlines/Gazeta.ru: Can Russia influence the U.S. elections? U.S. Democratic Party presidential candidate Hillary Clinton says that Russia can influence the process of the U.S. presidential elections in November. Russian experts believe her fears may be real.
18. Wall Street Journal: Guccifer 2.0 Denies Russian Involvement in Hack of Democratic Party. Correspondent identifying itself as hacker calls allegations ‘nonsense’
19. Russia Beyond the Headlines: Vladimir Mikheev, Fading Trump’s words are music to Moscow’s ears – but is it in vain? Is Donald Trump still relevant after his verbal blunders have alienated a plethora of social and ethnic groups and seriously damaged his standing in polls? And while Trump’s comments about relations with Russia appear to be manna from heaven for the Kremlin, is it worth Moscow counting on a possible “reset” if he miraculously wins the presidency?
20. The Unz Review: Israel Shamir, Is Putin a Lousy Dancer? He’s getting blamed for all of Hillary’s problems.
21. The National Interest: Doug Bandow, Should America Be More Willing to Go to War?
22. The Nation: Stephen Cohen, More Lost Opportunities to Diminish the New Cold War. Obama rejects a partnership with Russia against ISIS in Syria and reneges on his own proposals to reduce nuclear dangers while Ukraine’s President Poroshenko reneges on an agreement to end the Ukrainian civil war.
23. The New Atlas: Exposing US-Funded “NGOs.” From Moscow to Myanmar, US-European funded organisations undermine the essential work of genuine NGOs.
24. Fort Russ: Tatzhit, Causes and Impact of Post-Soviet Collapse.
25. Wall Street Journal: U.S. Designates Retired Army General as Ukraine Defense Adviser. Retired Gen. John Abizaid to help bring armed forces in line with Western principles.
26. The National Interest: Nicolai Petro, Ukraine’s Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace. Kiev thinks it’s ready to face an endless list of enemies. But it can’t.
27. Kennesaw State University international symposium: U.S. – Russia Relations in Global Context. Seeking papers.